Saturday, 12 January 2013

It’s nearly Christmas. You’re really excited and have been
waiting for ages. You think that your parents have got you an amazing LEGO Castle
with some of your favourite minifigures. Every time you go to the cinema your
parents show you a little sneak peek at a couple of the best looking bricks.
You can’t contain your excitement. Then some idiot shoots a load of people in
the LEGO factory and Santa puts Christmas back. The Castle you are told needs
some tweaking. You wait and wait, still excited. The day finally arrives. You
rush to the cinema to open your Christmas Present and… wait. It’s not the
amazing LEGO Castle at all but some cheap imitation.
Your Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone minifigures are there and there’s even one
that looks a bit like Sean Penn, it looks great too but it isn’t what you were
hoping for.

Originally slated for release in autumn 2012 Gangster Squad was put back following
the tragic Aurora shooting in Colorado. After some reshoots to remove a
pivotal cinema shoot up the film was released in the UK in January 2013. I’d been really
looking forward to it since early 2012 but my anticipation was never going to
be met. The film tells the real life story of The Gangster Squad, a small
Police Unit given free reign to catch L.A. Gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).
Sergeant O’Mara (Josh Brolin) brings together a crack squad of rough, strong
and smart Police to meet Cohen on his own terms and free L.A. from his grasp.

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

A surprise winner of Best Picture at the 78th Academy
Awards, Crash features an
intertwining narrative set over two days in Los Angeles. Not to be confused with David
Cronenberg’s 1996 film of the same name (as I did), the movie features a series
of stories, each with a theme of racism. A large ensemble cast that includes
the likes of Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, Brendan
Fraser and Terence Howard compete for screen time but each is given just enough
to serve their purpose.

I’ve never felt an urge to watch Crash and only really did so as part of my Best Picture Series. While
it isn’t a bad film, I’m more than a little surprised it won film’s top award
in 2005. Unusually for me I’ve only actually seen one more of the Best Picture
nominees from that year, Capote,
which itself was fine but not what I’d consider film of the year quality. Crash’s win may come down to the fact
that 2004 was a poor year for film as it is one of the weakest Oscar winners I’ve
seen so far.

Saturday, 24 November 2012

LAPD Officers Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala
(Michael Pena) patrol one of the most crime ridden areas of Los Angeles; South Central. Their close
relationship and dedication to their job runs in parallel with Taylor’s fondness for filming everything they
do on the beat. Cameras are attached to the Officer’s uniforms, car and Taylor even uses a
handheld camera when investigating a crime scene or just driving around. When a
couple of busts seem to share a link with some highly decorated or ‘blinged
out’ weapons, Taylor suggests the pair carry out some detective work which gets
them embroiled in a war with a Mexican drug cartel.

Although full of many of the usual buddy cop clichés and
with problems around the filming style detracting from the drama, End of Watch is an above average
Action-Drama which combines a great central relationship, two good performances
and a gritty realism. Its main selling point though is the found footage style
which is where the film occasionally fails.